Design Portfolio – Cairncroft Place
These clients are empty-nesters who struggled with a common dilemma; move or renovate? Should they sell the home they raised their children in and purchase something new, or to stay in a neighbourhood they love with the many friends they’d collected over the decades?
After much contemplation, the decision was made to renovate the almost thirty-year-old home, that was in its original condition. The renovation planning process started, as ours generally do, with the kitchen. Even though their adult children were all off at school, these avid cooks, who entertain a ton, where feeling hemmed in by the small kitchen. Many potential kitchen designs later, we had it – remove the wall between kitchen and dining room, relocate and replace the stove with an professional range, install a drawer microwave, utilize the former “eating section” to increase the peninsula size and add additional cabinetry to the dining room and a full pantry to an under-utilized back hall. Regardless of initial job scope, we like to completely redesign, all adjoining spaces up front and let our clients decide the pace at which to proceed. Doing so we find mitigates against any potential downstream financial and or aesthetic risk, like running a single type of flooring throughout a space as to not create visual breaks and/or too many flooring transitions. This job was no different. What quickly became apparent to our clients is the interconnectedness of the decisions they had to make. The removal of the kitchen/dining room wall meant the dining room could not remain untouched and if the dining room was to be renovated, what of its adjoining living room and the foyer and hallways and staircase and family room? Heck? What about the upper floor bathrooms and bedrooms? Well, you get the picture. Once this process began, our clients decided to just move forward with the renovation of the entire home and in doing so, jumped in with both feet, committing to making hundreds of decisions up front – eek! Sounds crazy, right? Nevertheless, it is not without good reason, this most crucial of our Rules of Engagement, sees all items that may potentially stand in the critical path of success, secured. Our clients treated themselves to a lovely piece of very colourful art for their living room and it was from this piece that the colour palate of the house flowed. Eight weeks to the day that construction began they moved back into their new renovated bright, airy home. Are they glad they decided to stay and renovate? You betcha!
